walking in LA - day 1 & 2

by the time all the planning, organizing, packing, etc was done we were wiped & definitely needed a break. we actually got out of the house before noon [yah for us!] & arrived at the natural history museum just in time for a late lunch.

i had shown Z websites of our planned schedule before we went to make sure it was something he wanted to do & this was at the top of his list. unfortunately [for Z, but excellent for me] the spider pavilion was closed. that was ok, bc we saw enough bugs & other creepy crawly things in my opinion. Z really liked the diorama halls & the bird exhibits too, he wasn't as impressed with the gem displays though. i remember going to gem shows when i was a kid & loving it [add that to the list of nerdness].

then right about 5pm we headed over to the hotel bc why not experience LA traffic? it really wasn't THAT bad though. there was a mall right next to our hotel so after checking in, we went over there to check it out. as expected it was snobville, so we didn't stay long & decided to take the bus over to santa monica pier for the evening.

that sounds like a good plan, right? we thought so except the bus doesn't go that way after 8pm so i guess it was good that we didn't go down there & get stuck... so we ended up eating dinner at the mall's food court.

the next day we did catch the bus, downtown to the farmer's market & we walked over to the la brea tar pits. oh but first we interrupted some filming [dang tourists!]...it was hot so we didn't even look at the outside exhibit. i had read somewhere online to not bother with the museum, but we enjoyed it. [maybe bc we got in free with our military discount or maybe bc it was hot outside...]

Z being an 8yo boy listened to the guide more than i expected him to & when he wasn't he managed to not destroy anything or disturb anyone so that's a win in my book. the outside display wasn't as stinky as i had expected it to be or maybe i had just grown accustom to the smell.

right next door to the tar pits is the LA Cty Museum of Art which i really would have liked to have gone to, but i knew Z wouldn't be able to handle it, so we'll have to save that for another trip. instead we ran to the bus & headed back to the farmer's market for lunch. we didn't even go inside, we had lunch at du-par's well, Z had breakfast...

then we jumped back on the bus & headed up to hollywood blvd. it was weird & crazy, with tons of people & i think i don't ever want to go there at night, especially not alone. we walked around a bit, then went to madame tussauds. Z wasn't very impressed with anyone other than iron man & wolverine [i was impressed with wolverine too] & yes, of course i got a pic with r.pattinson but they should have had him as edward. B had a few inappropriate moments as any marine should with a few female stars & in case you were wondering, we pretty sure the wax figures have nips.

just as we were about to enter Ripley's some guy off the street asked Z if he wanted some cocaine. i'm not joking, the guy was though & Z's pretty sheltered so he asked "what's blocaine?". I told him the guy was crazy & reminded him not to talk to strangers.

this was probably Z's favorite spot on the blvd; it was full of weirdness. after this we bused it back over to the farmer's market & looked for a place to have dinner. we didn't walk around it before, so one would think a farmer's market would you know, have lots of fresh fruits, vegetables & such for sale, but this was more of a food court.

we tried the cajun place & got some alligator; it wasn't bad, a lot like chicken with a cornmeal breading. we were still hungry so then we tried this other place, the village...it was some sort of flatbread/dough thing with hamburger like meat & stuff on it, really good. i'm gonna have to look that pedeh thing up!

finally we headed back to our not so glamorous although one would expect it hotel for a night's rest.